Thread: Soldering - Have we lost our personal connection with electronics?

Has anyone else noticed how the once popular hobby and skill of soldering is now pretty much gone. Its near impossible to find normal people who solder anymore. Radioshack and almost all shops have pulled soldering DIY kits and replaced them with wimpy non soldering DIY kits.

Soldering isn't taught in schools anymore by any capacity and besides A+ certification there are no classes which teach soldering.

This shows a growing trend of people losing their connection with the products they use. You can't even open your electronics without voiding the warranty.

We have lost our personal connection our with electronics. No one does DIY projects anymore. It is considered nefarious to even solder anymore. Soldering is considered a skill for the sole purpose of IP theft. The only thing soldering is used for today is modchips.

I just think its crazy how we have lost touch of doing stuff with our hands. Americans rarely do any manual labor with electronics and we have simply have forgotten how to do electronics work.

Soldering, once a common hobby for young and old alike is now reserved for professionals and "criminals".

It also obscene that modding one's own electronics is considered criminal now. It is considered nefarious to mess with your 300 dollar console.

Considered nefarious by whom? Not I, nor my uncle who regularly solders different pieces of computers, essentially "frankenstein-ing" them.

I personally don't know any soldering criminals, but I dont get out much.

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It used to be a huge hobby of mine to take raw wire and clip and bend it together, forming chains. though it was ridiculously inefficient and time consuming, it was fun. I aspired to begin working on a chain mail project. I sometimes I still wish i had that kind of hand strength.

So what are we going to do about it? Are we going to get more people interested in it? How?

Originally Posted by no-name

Considered nefarious by whom? Not I, nor my uncle who regularly solders different pieces of computers, essentially "frankenstein-ing" them.

I personally don't know any soldering criminals, but I dont get out much.

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It used to be a huge hobby of mine to take raw wire and clip and bend it together, forming chains. though it was ridiculously inefficient and time consuming, it was fun. I aspired to begin working on a chain mail project. I sometimes I still wish i had that kind of hand strength.

So what are we going to do about it? Are we going to get more people interested in it? How?

It's just like lately soldering is so brushed aside. People don't really see soldering as a hobby anymore. Heck you go to radioshack asking for 30awg and they make it sound like your looking for lock picks or something. I mean everytime I go to radioshack they have less and less stuff. Heck the radioshack nearest my house doesn't carry any soldering materials anymore.

It's just nuts. I mean come on where did the fun in building stuff yourself go.

Today is the age of care-free, no work, it's all automated. Having to work for something is obsolete. This is the future.

I sound like an info-mercial in a sci-fi flick, but you know it's true. People are always going to want less work.

If we dont have to work for it, why should we?

but where is the fun in that?

where is the fun in not doing anything yourself xD?

No fun in repairing my computer, only playing the games my repaired computer can play. Why should I work for something myself when I can pay somone else to do it?

This is just how I see everyone elses thought process.